Whitefish mural project seeks to build community

At first glance, the bits of porcelain on the frame don’t look much different from the rubble on the table and floor.

Pieces of plate, or maybe a chunk of what was once a coffee mug, sit scattered on a wooden frame. The only discernible pattern is that similarly colored bits are loosely grouped together — unlike the table, which looks like the site of a demolition derby between porcelain figurines.

Then, Ann Jeremiassen puts her frame, bits and all, on the floor.

With the distance, the pattern is suddenly clear. The colors separate and an eagle’s profile is evident against a blue sky.

“Deb tells you mosaic is primitive. You need to see it at a distance,” Jeremiassen explains, adding that grouting the tiles at the end of the project has the same effect. “When you put grout on, it just pulls it together.”

Deb Stika is the pro who led Jeremiassen and several other mosaic novices during a recent workshop in Whitefish. The workshops are the first step in Stumptown Art Studio’s Windows on Whitefish project, a community art initiative that will result in bright mosaics on a downtown building and, Stumptown leaders hope, renewed vigor in supporting the nonprofit studio.

“Stumptown Art Studio has been involved in the community for 17 years. It’s such an important part of the community,” said Susan Fletcher, Stumptown board member and chairwoman of the Windows on Whitefish project.

The studio has outreach programs at the Montana Veterans Home, with at-risk youths and for people with special needs. It offers after-school programs for kids, classes for adults and is, in short, a resource allowing people of all ages and artistic abilities to tap into their perhaps long-dormant creativity.

The community always has supported the studio, but the nonprofit seems to just squeak by, Fletcher said.

“It’s always just walking a very tight ... financial situation,” she said.

The hope is that Windows on Whitefish will draw attention to the studio and create an even greater level of community involvement, she said.

“Our vision is that we will be able to gather in corporations and individuals and families and have enough money to expand our programs, to remain doing what we do best,” she said.

“We help people to get familiar with their creative nature and how great and fun it is.”

The community already has embraced Windows on Whitefish, Stika said.

The porcelain pieces used in the workshops have nearly all been donated. The frames for the classes were built by Whitefish Middle School shop students. Western Building Center donated materials.

The community involvement aspect is what drew Paul and Janice McCann and their 11-year-old daughter, Bailey, to a recent workshop.

‘”But now it’s how much fun we had doing mosaics,” Janice McCann said. “We didn’t know it would be so much fun.”

Once community members complete a four-hour workshop, they return to Stumptown for what Stika calls a “groutathon” to finish their personal mosaic projects. Then they can work on the mosaics that will be installed on the side of Latitude 48.

There will be four mosaics, all designed by Stika, and each representing a different season in Whitefish. The first, “Spring,” is slated for completion this summer. The entire project will last two years.

Unlike the mosaics in the workshops, the final pieces will not feature delicate porcelain, Stika said. Materials such as glass or stonework are more appropriate for a work of art that has to be weather-resistant as well as beautiful.

“Nothing soft, or else it’ll just crumble,” she said. “We want this thing to last, to hang it up there and have it last 15 years.”

Some pieces in the mosaic are distinctly Whitefish, such as the brass switch key donated by a man who worked for the Great Northern Railway for 40 years. Some trees in the mural are represented by trees painted on white china — the original china from the Izaak Walton Inn, Fletcher said.

Touches like that make this a truly community project, Stika said.

“That sense of ownership, it’s rare,” she said. “These guys can come by and look at this and say, I did my part.”

Kristi Albertson, editor of This Week in the Flathead, may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.

So far this year, Stumptown Art Studio has offered mosaic workshops at a discounted price of $25, thanks to a grant from the Montana Arts Council. One more workshop will be offered at that price; it is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 12.

After that, the price will go up to $65, said Deb Stika, the mosaic workshop teacher.

“That’s where it should be,” she added.

A summer workshop schedule is available at www.stumptownartstudio.org. For additional information, call the studio at 862-5929.